"When I let go of the pipe I had been clinging to for three hours, I told myself that it was the end. The firefighters had lowered several poles, but they did not hear me screaming. I thought I was going to die," she told AFP.

The woman, who is married and the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, lives in a small village northeast of Montpellier called Lunel, which was completely cut off Monday when high water levels sparked by violent storms flooded roads.

She and her husband attempted to leave their house, but the woman -- who works as an in-house health care aide for the elderly -- quickly fell into a nearby manhole, out of reach of her loved ones and passersby.

Rescue divers were sent to search for the woman, but they returned empty-handed, and she was declared dead.

Remarkably, the woman managed to cling to a pipe in an area where there were air pockets. When she let go, a swift rush of water pushed her several hundred meters (yards) and ejected her through a separate opening.

Neighbors found her weak and suffering from hypothermia, but the woman was able to return home late Monday, while her husband, thinking the worst, had been taken to hospital.

"The first thing I asked for was that my husband be notified right away. He saw me fall into the hole. And he thought I was dead," said the woman, who was on Tuesday staying with her sister-in-law in Lunel.

Rescuers said the woman was incredibly lucky, with fire service major Jean-Paul Grasset explaining: "She's come back to us after going through an awful lot."

The storms that lashed southern and southeastern France damaged hundreds of homes, forced the evacuation of several dozen elderly and handicapped people and left 3,000 rail passengers temporarily stranded in train stations.

TERRA.WIRE